Electrical connectors are used for various applications to provide mechanical and electrical connections for electrical components, such as wiring harnesses, position switches, and equipment conductors. Electrical connectors can be used in electrical systems, for example, for vehicle systems, such as gear boxes of wiper motor systems, for electric tools, control systems, or other suitable electrical products. Such electrical connectors house and protect terminals from environmental conditions such as temperature extremes and/or environmental substances such as dirt or moisture and may provide electrical and mechanical connections between components having different contact structures.
Known electrical connectors suffer from a drawback that instead of being constructed as a simple snap-on, plug-in adaptor with releasable terminal receptacles, they can require soldering for terminal splicing and sealing or insulation of the spliced terminal with resin potting. The connector solder can be subject to failure during the manufacturing or installation process. Use of the resin potting at the splice requires extra time to allow for the application, handling, and healing or curing of the resin, and can also be subject to failure during the manufacturing or installation process.
Known electrical connectors also suffer from a drawback that each connector housing design is specific to different applications for use, requiring different models of connectors for connection to different equipment. Such connectors suffer from a drawback that they are not modular assemblies with interchangeable parts, so they do not permit desired adaptation, for example, when dealing with different equipment.
It would, therefore, be beneficial to provide an electrical connector assembly that does not suffer from the above drawbacks. In particular, it would be desirable to provide an electrical connector assembly with interchangeable covers which is configured to be mateable with different mating connectors, thereby allowing the connector assembly to be used with different equipment, i.e. manufactured by different manufacturers. It would also be beneficial to provide such a connector assembly which can provide the electrical connection without the need of solder or potting resin.